[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3317 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3317

  To direct the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to revise the Federal 
regulations applicable to the declaration of the trans fat content of a 
food on the label and in the labeling of the food when such content is 
                          less than 0.5 gram.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 23, 2009

  Mr. Israel introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to revise the Federal 
regulations applicable to the declaration of the trans fat content of a 
food on the label and in the labeling of the food when such content is 
                          less than 0.5 gram.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Trans Fat Truth in Labeling Act of 
2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies 
        advises the United States Government on nutritional science for 
        use in public policy and product labeling programs.
            (2) In 2002, the Institute of Medicine issued dietary 
        reference intakes for energy, carbohydrate, fiber, fat, fatty 
        acids, cholesterol, protein, and amino acids and made 
        recommendations regarding consumption of trans fat.
            (3) These recommendations included a statement that ``trans 
        fatty acids are not essential and provide no known benefit to 
        human health''.
            (4) The Institute of Medicine concluded that both saturated 
        and trans fats increase levels of LDL cholesterol and trans 
        fats may also lower levels of HDL cholesterol.
            (5) A 2006 New England Journal of Medicine scientific 
        review stated that ``from a nutritional standpoint, the 
        consumption of trans fatty acids results in considerable 
        potential harm but no apparent benefit''.

SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF TRANS FAT CONTENT OF LESS THAN 0.5 GRAM PER 
              SERVING ON THE LABEL OR IN THE LABELING OF FOOD.

    (a) Requirement.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs shall 
promulgate a final regulation revising section 101.9(c)(2)(ii), and 
such other provisions as may be necessary, of the Code of Federal 
Regulations to require that--
            (1) if the trans fat content of a serving of a food is less 
        than 0.5 gram, and
            (2) if the trans fat content of a serving of the food is 
        declared in the nutrition information on the label or in the 
        labeling of the food,
the trans fat content of a serving of the food shall be expressed 
through the use of an asterisk or other notation stating that the trans 
fat content of a serving is less than 0.5 gram (instead of expressing 
the trans fat content as zero).
    (b) Effective Date.--The regulation promulgated under subsection 
(a) shall take effect on the date that is 18 months after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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